News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
An Ohio philosophy professor, disciplined by Shawnee State University for declining to use a transgender student’s preferred personal pronouns, is appealing the dismissal of his federal lawsuit against the university. Professor Nicholas Meriwether’s lawsuit argued that the Portsmouth, Ohio, university “denied him his right to exercise his religion under the…
Photo courtesy of unsplash.com Students’ rights are a complex, contentious and highly relevant issue. However, despite the fact that these rights are vitally important to college students and the ways they may conduct their lives, many are unaware of how their attendance at a university may impact their freedoms and…
On Jan. 22, the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments in a landmark case that could widen the door for state voucher programs and seriously damage religious liberty. In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue , the court is being asked to hold that the Free Exercise Clause requires…
More than half of the Notre Dame incoming class in 2019 did not attend public high school. Catholic high schools, specifically, accounted for 37% of that class. This month, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear argument as to whether it is unconstitutional for a state to…
A nativity scene is on display near the Washington Monument on December 23, 2010 in Washington, DC. (Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images) An attorney from a religious liberty law firm said on Thursday that officials from a Delaware town have violated the First Amendment by banning religious displays on public property. Roger…
Shields of Strength dog tags | YouTube/First Liberty Institute The U.S. Army’s licensing office has banned a faith-based company from engraving Bible verses on Army-licensed dog tags and jewelry, an action that has outraged at least one member of Congress. Last week, the religious freedom law group First Liberty Institute…
If you know your United States history, you know that the Pilgrims came to North America seeking to practice their religion free from the constraints of the Church of England. If you know your U.S. history well , you know that what many call the beginning of public schooling was…
Church/state watchdog groups including the Baptist Joint Committee urged the U.S. Supreme Court to agree that a dollar-for-dollar tax credit that diverts public funds to private Christian schools is unconstitutional in an upcoming case testing the balance between the First Amendment’s two clauses regarding religious liberty. The BJC, a more…
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on a case in January that clearly reveals the strategy of evangelical Christian activists to gain legal approval to tax-fund primary and secondary religious education in America. St. Wenceslaus Church in Danvers, Montana, was built in 1916 and is now used occasionally…
The Kentucky Supreme Court has dismissed — on a technicality — a lawsuit brought against a shop that refused to print T-shirts for Lexington’s 2012 Pride Festival. “The court sidestepped debates over civil rights and the freedoms of religion and speech by ruling on a legal technicality, that the party…
Modern political candidates spend a lot of time presenting themselves as culturally acceptable to voters. That means a lot of talk about God, faith, and family, and often the winning candidate is the one who looks best driving a well-worn pickup truck. This is nothing new in American politics, but…
Modern political candidates spend a lot of time presenting themselves as culturally acceptable to voters. That means a lot of talk about God, faith, and family, and often the winning candidate is the one who looks best driving a well-worn pickup truck. This is nothing new in American politics, but…
Transgender activists rallied at the White House in October to protest the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ policies. Stating that California’s interest in fighting discrimination against LGBTQ residents outweighs the right to impose religious standards on healthcare, an appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit against the Catholic Dignity Health hospital chain for…
Barronelle Stutzman of Arlene’s Flowers is seeking an OK to refuse service to gay couples. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key) After obtaining a perfunctory decision last year in her favor, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Washington State is back before the U.S. Supreme Court with a renewed…
Recent articles supporting the Commissioners’ decision to surrender First Amendment prayer rights contain flawed assumptions. The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech.” In the recent Supreme Court Case, Greece v. Galloway,…
D.J. Tice @StribDJ America has always been an experiment in the limits of diversity. How deeply and in how many ways can a people differ and disagree, and even disapprove of one another’s ways of life, and still remain “a people” — a community with enough shared values to stay…
Home » Copyright/Intellectual Property » ‘Going down’ Is a Trade Mark That Causes a Bad Influence on Morality, Says the Beijng High Court in China From The IPKat: ‘Going down’ is a common English phrase whose meaning is descending or sinking. But when it tried to be registered as a…
Hospital workers still unsure whether distant religious link exempts retirement plans from federal ERISA compliance San Francisco, CADignity Health has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a proposed class action ERISA lawsuit that accused it of using a undeserved religious exemption to justify underfunding its pension plan by $1.5…
NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio — A Texas-based religious liberties organization has asked a school district in Ohio to restore a Ten Commandments plaque to a middle school wall after learning that the Decalogue display was removed following a complaint from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). “[I]n light of a…
A Ten Commandments plaque dating back to the 1920’s has been removed from an Ohio middle school after complaints from an atheist organization. The plaque had been on display for 92 years at Welty Middle School in New Philadelphia until a concerned parent reportedly complained about it. The parent contacted…
Peace Cross 1. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment On June 20, 2019, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of The American Legion vs. American Humanist Association that keeping a Peace Cross on public land does not violate the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution. The…
A veterans memorial located in Bladensburg, Maryland. Last week’s cross decision was a major case for religious liberty. Perhaps it even spells the death knell of the so-called Lemon Test…an aptly-named decision from the early 1970s that has often been used against any religious expression in the public square. The…
The Supreme Court on Monday kicked back to the lower court a case involving Oregon bakery owners, in a move that leaves unanswered whether a business owner can refuse services to LGBT people because of their closely held religious beliefs. In an unsigned order with no noted dissents, the justices…
Supreme Court says 40-foot Maryland cross can stand as war memorial The Supreme Court said Thursday the Constitution did not require tearing down historic monuments just because they featured religious symbols, such as crosses or the Ten Commandments. In a 7-2 decision, the high court upheld the display of a…
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is taking an Alabama High School to task after 18 football players were baptized last month. According to Fox News , 18 players for the Washington County High school were baptized in a feeding trough by Chatom Baptist Church’s pastor in May. The event was…